by Tom Okarma | Jul 13, 2010 | Blog, Leadership, Strategic Planning
Have you ever had to rebuild a department…or entire organization? Did you wrestle with how much to structure the process versus letting others handle it? We did. One of our departments had gone through a tough period. An ego-driven, bully-type person had led it. There...
by Tom Okarma | Jun 26, 2010 | Blog, Leadership, Strategic Planning
The Worst of Times… Leading a nonprofit organization, especially a social service organization, is an honor and singular opportunity to positively impact the lives of those going through tough times in your community. We all should be so fortunate to have the chance...
by Tom Okarma | May 22, 2010 | Blog, Leadership, Strategic Planning
Strong customer relationships may be the best way to serve your clients and retain their business over the long haul. Another word for that is “intimacy”. While pricing and other terms are important, and must be “in the ballpark”, strong client relations, or intimacy,...
by Tom Okarma | May 8, 2010 | Blog, Board Development, Governance, Leadership, Strategic Planning
Is your business model or organizational structure ready for tomorrow’s opportunities and challenges, or does it still reflect your “hey days” of the past? If your firm did not exist and you were to create it new today, what would it look like? It’s true, many...
by Tom Okarma | Mar 15, 2010 | Blog, Board Development, Governance, Leadership, Strategic Planning
Having a clear mission, vision, and values (MVV) statement, one the entire leadership team helped create, fully understands, and commits to follow, is a terrific tool. It not only provides a motivational and rallying point for employees and volunteers, it also...
by Tom Okarma | Mar 1, 2010 | Blog, Board Development, Leadership, Strategic Planning
One thing about a nonprofit’s financials is that revenue projections can be a bit “iffy”, while projected expenses always seem to roll in just as planned. Aggressive revenue projections are not necessarily bad, but unless someone owns the fund raising function-and...